St.Peter

From James Martin's book:
Richard Rohr: We clearly come to God not by doing it right but ironically by doing it wrong."
James Martin's doubts about his vocation.
" I was being called to be a Jesuit not despite my faults,my limitations, and my neuroses, but with them, may be even because of them.God was calling all of me--even the parts I did not especially like--to be with him.
"Understanding Peter's humanity was a liberating insight for me.For if God calls each of us individually, he calls us with both our gifts and our failings.And it is in our failings and in the parts of our lives that embarrass us , that we are drawn closest to God."
"Everyone needs to be reminded of this: it is difficult to accept that God loves us as we are, with our limitations, as well as our tendencies to sin,Certainly God is calling us to conversion...At the same time God is always inviting us to follow him, with a full and forgiving knowledge of our human nature.
"Being a Christian means being a loved sinner"
"It is precisely our limitations and even our tendency to sin, that draw us nearer to God and make us better disciples."
"Peter was as imperfect as the rest of the disciples but in his humility he recognized his ultimate dependence on God.For this reason,he is at least for me , the most human of the saints and one of the most lovable.

St.Joseph

In the chapter on St.Joseph, James Martin describes first his experiences with refugees in Nairobi, Kenya and his encounter with the the Little Sisters of Jesus founded by by Magdeleine Hutin in 1939 in Algeria, who was  inspired by the life of Charles de Foucauld, a French nobleman and soldier who left his luxurious life in 1886 to live in poverty , imitating the hidden life of Jesus.
Charles was killed in 1916.
These Little Sisters like the Little Brothers engage in menial labor , working in hospitals, factories and farms.
Knowing more about them leads James Martin to learn more about Joseph who was such a such significant influence on Jesus in his early life.
"It is the hiddeness of Joseph's life that speaks to me."
James Martin likes acts of hiddeness because they are opposite to what he often thinks important. He likes to get publicity for what he does.
"The burning desire for fame  is of course a manifestation of pride." Martin cites the  story of an old sculptor who was was creating a statue of the Bl.Virgin Mary for  a Cathedral. He was paying great attention to the back of the statue.When someone pointed out that no one is going to see the back, he replied: "God will see it." He wants to make us understand that hidden life has a great importance:" I long for that kind of holiness.But I am very far from it."